Classy sprinter Grand Duels will have a delayed start to his autumn campaign but still has the Group One Newmarket Handicap as his major goal.Trainer Byron Cozamanis was hoping to have the five-year-old ready for a clash with Apache Cat and Weekend Hussler in the Group One Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington until a virus struck the sprinter."We were aiming at the Lightning but he had a bit of a setback and will now run some time in February," Cozamanis said.Grand Duels has been in work for s
Classy sprinter Grand Duels will have a delayed start to his autumn campaign but still has the Group One Newmarket Handicap as his major goal.
Trainer Byron Cozamanis was hoping to have the five-year-old ready for a clash with Apache Cat and Weekend Hussler in the Group One Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington until a virus struck the sprinter.
"We were aiming at the Lightning but he had a bit of a setback and will now run some time in February," Cozamanis said.
Grand Duels has been in work for six weeks and will be one of the first horses in to Cozamanis' newly acquired 18-box complex at Caulfield when he arrives from his South Australian stables on Monday.
Cozamanis said he was excited about the move to Melbourne but would continue to maintain his training operation at Finniss as well.
Grand Duels is his headline horse while Aztec Smytzer, part-owned by Tony Santic, won the Seymour Cup in October.
A noted Flemington straight horse, Grand Duels finished third to Weekend Hussler and Magnus in the 2008 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) after finishing a close sixth to Apache Cat in the Lightning Stakes.
He was first past the post in three other straight races at Flemington but lost one when he was disqualified from the Listed Kensington Stakes (1100m) in January last year when he tested positive to the anabolic steroid boldenone.
At his previous start he won at Flemington in December 2007.
Last spring he won the Listed Aurie's Star Handicap (1200m) first-up, was second to Bon Hoffa in the Group Three Bobbie Lewis Quality (1200m) and fourth to El Cambio in the Group Two Gilgai Stakes (1200m).
Cozamanis is unconcerned that Grand Duels will have to race away from Flemington in the lead up to Newmarket.
He flagged the Group One Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield in February 21 as a logical preliminary.
"He likes the straight but I don't think it is all that essential for him and I will still run around the turn if I have to," Cozamanis said.
In two runs at Caulfield, Grand Duels has placed once and last spring was a luckless fifth to the ill-fated Sunburnt Land in the Group Two International Sprint (1100m) when he knuckled at the start.
Grand Duels hasn't started since Oaks Day at Flemington when flat side horses had a distinct advantage and he finished ninth coming down the grandstand rail.